by Jessie Evans
“You’ve never been depressed a day in your life,” Phoebe said in a teasing voice. “You’re the most upbeat person I’ve ever met.”
Phoebe didn’t make eye contact as she circled around him to join Daisy beside the coffin, but she did reach out and squeeze his hand. It was a light touch, lasting only a few seconds, but it was enough to make his chest feel too tight and remind him of all the other ways he wanted to touch her—hot, sexy, dangerous ways that would lead to nothing but trouble.
If he were smart, he would back out of the race. He could call Daisy later tonight and tell her he’d been summoned into work. Seth would let him skip his vacation and pull another shift as long as he got a full forty-eight hours off first. And if he were at the firehouse on duty, he would be safe from the unexpected desire Phoebe aroused in him.
But he had never been good at playing it safe.
He was good at fast and fearless. And as he watched Phoebe get a lesson on how to use the power sander from his little sister, he wondered if it was time to stop trying so hard to be something that he wasn’t.
Maybe it was time to take advantage of the Christmas gift the universe had dropped into his arms not once, but twice, today. Phoebe wasn’t the naïve girl she used to be. She was a woman who knew what she wanted, and if she wanted him, who was he to deny her—or himself—the pleasure?
He was leaving town as soon as his paperwork went through. Late January, maybe early February at the latest. That wasn’t enough time for things to get messy and complicated.
But it was long enough to see if Phoebe’s lips tasted as sweet as they looked and to make sure he gave the woman that the girl next door had become a welcome back to Lover’s Leap she would never forget.
Chapter 5
Phoebe
The moment Phoebe stepped out of her truck at the community center Tuesday morning to find Colton’s battered Jeep the only other vehicle in the parking lot, she smelled a rat.
A petite, meddling, Daisy Brody–shaped rat.
She should have known better than to think Daisy had missed her squeezing Colt’s hand yesterday. No matter how brief the touch had been, it had happened in Daisy’s presence and Daisy didn’t miss a thing, no matter how small.
Especially when it came to anything with a whiff of romance about it.
She was like a love-seeking peregrine falcon, hunting out vulnerable hearts and descending upon them at speeds exceeding one hundred miles per hour, exploding once peaceful lives in a flurry of feathers. Daisy was a matchmaker on steroids and responsible for more happy marriages and volatile breakups than any of the meddling old women in town. She meant well—she only wanted the people she loved to be loved and happy—but Phoebe had been grateful to escape Lover’s Leap after high school without ever having been the focus of her best friend’s attempts to play Cupid.
On the plus side, the fact that Daisy was trying to push Phoebe and Colt together meant she must approve of her brother and her best friend taking their relationship to another level.
On the minus side, this meant that neither Phoebe nor Colt would have a moment’s peace until they either declared their intentions to get married and lived happily ever after or vowed to hate each other for all eternity and went their separate ways.
It was a lot of pressure, especially considering Colton was on his way out of town soon. It didn’t give them much time to get around to love or hate. But if anyone could arouse passionate feelings within her in a record amount of time, it was Colt. When he waved over the hood of his Jeep, her heart shimmied behind her ribs, and by the time he opened her door with a grin that made it obvious he was happy to see her, her internal organs were in full on disco mode.
It was nine o’clock on a Tuesday morning and she hadn’t even had her morning cup of Joe—she never drank coffee before a run—but Colton still had her body humming like it was midnight on a Saturday night. The clean, masculine scent of him mingled with the scent of freshly fallen snow and the cedar trees lining the parking lot, making her want to wrap her arms around his neck and pull him in for a happy holidays kiss, no mistletoe required.
Instead, she backed toward the bed of the truck, pretending to be focused on fetching her yoga mat and hand weights.
“You came prepared,” Colt said, still so close that his body heat warmed her back and his amazing smell muddied her thoughts.
He smelled like soap and firewood and something richer like the base note of an amazing wine, the kind you want to sniff for a good minute or two before you take a sip. The kind that begs you to let the anticipation of the first taste build until you just can’t take it anymore. Until you have to tip your glass and let the sweet, smoky liquid caress your tongue, flow down your throat, and pool in your belly, warming you from the inside out.
Phoebe swallowed hard, knowing she would never think about wine—or Colt—quite the same way again.
She took another step away and turned to face him, trying to avoid getting any more drunk on his presence than she was already. “So what’s up with Daisy?” she asked, forcing a friendly grin onto her face. “Is she running late?”
Colt shook his head. “No, she wasn’t feeling up to a workout after all. She’s decided to save her energy for the race on Thursday. But she did make us reservations for brunch. With all the tourists in town, she was worried the Fish and Bicycle would be packed and wanted to make sure we had a place to warm up by the fire after getting sweaty in the cold.”
Phoebe’s lips puckered before shifting to the side of her face.
Colton laughed. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He arched a brow. “I guess she’s decided we’re her latest victims.”
Phoebe glanced up at him, surprised that he’d guessed the truth so quickly though she really shouldn’t have been. Colton and Daisy had always been close. As the two youngest Brody kids, they had learned to stick together. In a house with that many bossy older brothers in it, it was either rise together or fall alone.
Colton and Daisy were as thick as thieves and Colt loved her every bit as much as he loved his brothers, but he was also aware of her faults.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, leaning against the side of the truck, his shaggy hair falling over his forehead. “I’m only in town for another month or two. She can’t drive us too crazy in that amount of time.”
“No, she can’t.” Phoebe ignored the sadness that washed through her chest, shutting down the disco inside of her.
She’d already known that Colt was leaving. There was no reason to ruin a perfectly good morning moping about it or the fact that she hadn’t seen that simmer-y look in his eyes again since yesterday in her kitchen. For all she knew, she’d imagined that moment. And even if she hadn’t, he seemed to have made up his mind to forget it had ever happened. She might as well follow his lead and spare herself the unnecessary drama.
She stood up straighter, determined to enjoy her first workout since she’d come back to town. “I’m seeing Daisy later today. I’ll make sure she gets the message that I’m not interested in any lovey-dovey stuff.”
“Good luck with that,” Colt said, studying her for a moment before he asked, “Why aren’t you interested in lovey-dovey stuff? Some asshole in Chicago break your heart?”
She laughed as she leaned her mat against the truck and set her weights down beside them. “Well, there are a lot of assholes in Chicago, but none of them broke my heart.” She shrugged. “I’m just not interested in an emotional relationship right now. I want to enjoy being back in town with my best friend and memories of Kelly and good times growing up and just keep it simple, you know. And be happy. I really love it here. I’m so glad to be back.”
He nodded, his gaze softening. “Yeah, I was too. Sometimes I think I love this town too much.”
She pulled her arm across her chest, limbering up for the run. “So why are you in such a hurry to leave?”
It was his turn to shrug. “Unfinished business, I guess. After I lost my leg, I was given the choice of a desk job or
discharge. I tried to convince the medical evaluation board that I could come back better than ever, but they didn’t think it was possible.”
He braced one hand on the back of the truck bed before grabbing the top of his foot with the other, getting into a quad stretch. “I didn’t think I’d have the chance to prove them wrong, but then I heard about the initiative to return amputees to combat. It was like it had my name on it. Now I’ll be able to show them that I’m no less of a man or a marine than I used to be.”
Phoebe pressed her lips together as she shifted her stretch to the other arm, but finally couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Why do you have to show them? I mean, you already know that’s true. Why does what they think matter so much?”
He released his leg with a huff. “I was on active duty for six years and did four years of college ROTC before that, Phoebes. I’ve spent my entire adult life being a marine or getting ready to be one. It’s who I am.”
“That’s not true,” she said with a frown. “You’ve been with the fire department here for almost a year. That’s part of your adult life. You save lives, the lives of people who know you and love you and never doubted for a second that you could do anything you set your mind to.”
Colton’s jaw tightened and a muscle there leapt. He looked angry, but Phoebe wasn’t about to apologize for speaking her mind.
In fact, she wasn’t quite through speaking it.
“And if you ask me, that’s a better use of the person you are than running back to people who didn’t believe in you in the first place.”
“Well, I didn’t ask, Phoebe,” he said, his tone polite, but strained, leaving no doubt he wasn’t thrilled with her unsolicited advice. “So why don’t we finish stretching out and get on the track. Running leaves less breath for small talk.”
“It wasn’t small talk,” she grumbled beneath her breath.
It was meaningful, sincere talk from a friend who cared about him, but she recognized Colton’s stubborn face when she saw it. He wasn’t going to listen to anything she had to say. Might as well save her energy for the run.
Shaking her legs to loosen up the cold muscles, she reached into the pocket of her fleece jacket and pulled out a pack of bubble gum.
“You want one?” she asked, popping a cherry-flavored rectangle into her mouth before holding the pack out toward him. “I have to chew something while I run or I clench my jaw too tight.”
Colton shook his head. “No thanks. I don’t have any problems keeping my body loose where it needs to be loose and tight where it needs to be tight.”
Phoebe arched a brow as she moved into a quad stretch. “Is that an insult?”
“Did it sound like an insult?” He bent to touch the ground, stretching out his hamstrings and drawing her attention to the C-shaped prosthetic he was wearing. “Relax, Phoebe. You’re back in Lover’s Leap, no room for big-city paranoia around here.”
“I’m not paranoid,” she mumbled as she dropped into a forward fold, letting her arms hang loose as she stole covert glances at his new gear.
Yesterday, when he was wearing his metal leg with the boot, you couldn’t tell anything was different about him until he lifted his jeans. Now, it was obvious that he had changed, but not in a way that made him less of a man or athlete. Colt hadn’t simply compensated for something that he was missing; he had undergone a metamorphosis, assimilating the prosthetic in such a way that it seemed like an organic part of his body.
The way he moved was subtly different, but no less graceful than back when he’d played football for Lover’s Leap High School or spent summer days kicking the soccer ball around the field in back of the Brodys’ big house. He was still a consummate athlete, and if he was half as good at putting out fires and saving kittens up trees as he was at catching her every time she fell, he was probably the best firefighter the LLFD had ever had.
Bottom line, he was amazing, and he should be proud of the work he’d put in to come back strong after such a life-changing injury. He didn’t need the marine’s approval; he’d already proven everything that needed to be proved.
She just wished he knew that.
No matter what he said, Phoebe could tell there was a part of Colton that wouldn’t be satisfied that he had won this battle until he was a marine again. But he was so much more than a marine. He was a friend, a brother, a son, a vital part of the community, and a good man.
Slow down there, Phoebes. Better watch out or someone will be on a one-way train back to Crushville.
Phoebe wrinkled her nose and brought her face closer to her knees.
Crushville. If only it were that simple. Now that she and Colt were both grown up, she had a sneaking suspicion that her feelings for him could swiftly become more serious than a crush and that no matter how many times she told herself not to get attached, she was going to miss him when he was gone.
Chapter 6
Colton
Usually by the time he hit the tail end of mile one, Colton had found his stride and settled into an easy rhythm. But today, his breath remained uneven, his stride awkward, and his Zen place out of reach.
He would have blamed his imbalance on the need to adjust his speed for Phoebe to keep up, but surprisingly, she wasn’t slowing him down a bit. The woman was a running machine, easily keeping up with his longer gait and pushing him to the edge of his comfortable warm-up speed.
No, it wasn’t her performance that was throwing him off his game, but the things she’d said before they started their run. He didn’t know whether to be pissed off or touched by her words, and that was enough to piss him off right there. He didn’t like not knowing what to think or feel. And he really didn’t like the disappointment that had oozed through his chest when she’d said she wasn’t up for an emotional relationship.
That should have been good news. Great news, even.
No emotional heavy lifting meant one less obstacle between Phoebe and him becoming friends with benefits. He had lain awake for hours last night remembering how perfect she’d felt in his arms and now he had Daisy’s implied approval for moving forward. He should be thrilled.
But for some reason he wasn’t. He was frustrated and grumpy and only pride kept him on the track beside Phoebe instead of calling the workout a wash and heading for home.
He wasn’t going to let a woman half his size outrun him, not while there was still breath left in his body.
“Are you going to be able to keep this up for five miles?” he asked as they rounded the finish line of the community center track for the fifth time. “It’s better to push hard at the end than fade out during the final mile, you know.”
“I have better luck with a faster start.” She blew a pink bubble before she continued on, seemingly barely out of breath. “Once I increased my first-mile speed to six percent over my baseline, I cut a minute off my best 5k.”
“Is that right?” he asked, impressed. “And you still push hard during the last mile, too?”
“Yeah. I don’t get quite as fast as I would if I took it easier the rest of the race, but by that point it doesn’t matter. I’m already so far ahead of my slow start time that I still come out ahead.” She tilted her ear to one shoulder and then the other, keeping her neck loose. “And usually there are zombies or something chasing me at the end. That helps with the final push.”
He puffed out a laugh that crystallized in the cool air. “Zombies?”
“I do a lot of obstacle courses, novelty races, that sort of thing.” She popped another bubble. “It helps keep me interested and motivated. I get bored if I’m just running in a circle over and over.”
“So you’re saying you’re bored,” he said, shooting her an amused look. “Even though you’re kicking my ass?”
“Maybe a little bored.” She shrugged, but he could see the smile teasing at her pink lips. “And I wouldn’t say I’m kicking your ass. At least not yet.”
“Talking smack, Page.” He gave her shoulder a nudge, loving the bright tinkle of her l
aughter as she veered to the right before coming back into the lane beside him. “We don’t tolerate smack talk on this track unless you’re ready to back it up with action.”
“I’m all about action.” She turned around to face him, running backward. “What do you have in mind?”
He shook his head. “Now you’re just showing off.”
“Maybe a little,” she said with a grin. “I need something to keep me entertained.”
Damn, he could think of a few ways to entertain her.
Colt shook the thought away, ignoring how sexy Phoebe looked trotting backward, gazing up at him with that twinkle in her eyes. There would be time for admiring her later. After he’d beaten her tight little ass to the finish line.
“All right, then at the next turn, let’s head through the gate and hook up with the path to the lake,” he said, motioning to the back exit of the track. “First one to the old dock gets bragging rights.”
She huffed as she jumped in a half circle and started running forward again. “I want more than bragging rights.”
“Greedy and competitive,” he said, clucking his tongue. “All right then, Phoebes, what do you want? On the off chance that you actually win.”
“When I win, I want to decide the rotation for the coffin run,” she said, rolling her wrists. “With my superior running skill and natural knack for strategy, I think we have a good chance of winning and I’ve always wanted one of those trophies with the dead dude on top.”
“All right,” he said, grinning. “And if I win, you’re my date to turkey bowling tomorrow night.”
She glanced sharply up at him. “Your date?”
“Yeah, a date. It’s this thing where you go somewhere together with the intention of enjoying each other’s company.”
“I’ve heard of it,” she responded wryly. “But you mean a date. Not a date date.”
“And the difference is…”
“A date is a friend thing. A date date is something else.”